Documenting Their Lives, Telling Their Stories

A Letter from Lucille Leach…..

Among the items Dale Leach has generously provided for the Leach Family pages of this blog is a letter written to him by Lucille Leach in 1979. Lucille was the daughter of Harry Gifford Leach and granddaughter of Moses S. Leach and provides a list of his descendants. Here then, is the text:

*********************************

283 Michigan Ave.

Elyria, Ohio 44035

July 15, 1979

Dear Cousin Dale,

Excuse the informality, but I believe we are really cousins! I was glad to receive your letter and learn that at last someone is working on the Leach genealogy. Also, I learned several other things from your letter.

I had always thought that my grandfather was born in Michigan. I can remember his talking about boyhood days there. I think I understand the situation better now. After his mother died, the family must have moved to Michigan when his father re-married. This would account for the item in the 1860 Michigan census stating that he lived with Moses Maynard. That would be his maternal grandfather. His mother was Mary Maynard. I also remember his talking of half-brothers. My grandfather often entertained us children with tales of bears seen in the Michigan wilds.

I wish I could tell you more about Solomon Leach, but I can give you the following information taken from a book on the descendants of Michael Dayton. My grandmother Leach was a Dayton.

It was B. J. Shanower of Burton who told you about me, a granddaughter of Moses Leach. Mr. Shanower is Emeritus Director of the Geauga County Museum in Burton. I am a retired high school teacher in Elyria, which is 25 miles west of Cleveland. My brother is also retired and lives in Akron. My sister is married to a veterinarian and lives in Buffalo, New York.

I hope you can use some of this material, and I shall be glad to help you in any way I can.